USC Marshall School of Business

Master of Business for Veterans

Los Angeles

Spring2017

Managerial Accounting and Reporting: Syllabus and Schedule

Professor:Smrity Randhawa

E-mail:

COURSE AND OBJECTIVES:

The primary focus of the course is the development, presentation and understanding of accounting information useful for managers when analyzing results and supporting decisions related to: product costing, overhead application, budgeting and planning, and management performance.

The emphasis of the course would be learning general concepts used by the management but because it is accounting therefore we will be learning about a few rules. The Garrison text is used to introduce the concepts and the mechanics associated with the accounting topics covered in the course.

Accounting is the language of business. As a result this course, like any foreign language course, is pretty demanding. Class Assignments require a high level of preparation and most students need to devote a reasonable amount of time in order to gain a full understanding of the materials presented and discussed. Homework Assignments should be attempted prior to each class meeting, although they are not collected. You are encouraged to work in groups to prepare for the Assignments. The best way to learn accounting is to work through accounting problems. Solutions to the Homework problems in the text will be provided to you.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

Distinguish between cost classifications used inmanagement decision-making.
Analyze and demonstrate how strategic planning and budgeting enhances an organization’s ability to respond to economic changes by preparing elements of the master budget and a flexible budget.
Analyze and demonstrate how the relationships among cost volume and profit could affect the earnings performance of a business.
Analyze and identify cost information that is relevant for decision makers by recognizing and applying the relevant elements in a variety of decision-making scenarios likely to face professional managers.

Understand and analyze the different methods used to evaluate proposed investments. For example, net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) etc.

Compute and explain the significance of quantity and price variances related to direct labor, direct material and variable overhead.

COURSE MATERIALS:

Required Text Book:

Garrison Management Accounting; 15thed; Garrison, Noreen and Brewer; McGraw Hill publishers

Cases: To be distributed to students per session

Course Grades:

The final grade in the Managerial Accounting course will be based on the following:

Case Solutions100%

Smrity Randhawa

The Core Concepts of Managerial Accounting

Instructor:Smrity Randhawa

Date:Friday, March 3, 2017

Overview and Session Description

Our first session begins with discussionof some of the key differences between managerial and financial accounting. There are many types of costs and these costs are classified differently according to the immediate needs of management. This notion of different costs for different decision making purposes is a critically important aspect of managerial accounting. To that end, we will also examine how profits are affected by such factors as sales, variable and fixed costs.

Topic Outline

Overview of managerial accounting
Objectives, basic principles, and some key applications
The significance of cost terms and introduction of new format of income statement
Use of Cost-volume-profit analysis in deciding what products and services to offer

Pre-work

Read: Garrison/Noreen/Brewer: Chapters 1,2, 5

Suggested Homework Problems: E2-1; E2-2; E2-3; E2-4; E2-5; E2-7;

E5-7; E5-10; E5-11; E5-15

Group Case: To be distributed at end of this session (Due date: April 1, 2017)

Smrity Randhawa

Incremental Analysis and Profit Planning

Instructor:Smrity Randhawa

Date:Saturday, April 1, 2017

Overview and Session Description

For the first half of this session we continue the discussion about the relevant costs for managerial decision-making. We will discuss a few decision-making scenarios and talk about the costs that would be considered most relevant for making the decision.

In the second half we will begin our discussion of budgets. To be useful, budgets should provide guidance in conducting actual operations and should be part of the performance evaluations process. As a result, we will focus on the steps taken by businesses to achieve their planned levels of profits. We will practice preparing a number of budgets that together form an integrated business plan known as the master budget. We will also examine how the master budget is used in planning and control, two critical functions in the management decision-making process.

Topic Outline

Identify relevant and irrelevant costs and benefits in various decision making scenarios
The fundamental nature of budgets
Various types of budgets
Development and application of budgets in performance evaluation

Pre-work

Read: Garrison/Noreen/Brewer: Chapters 12 and 8

Suggested Homework Problems: E12-1, E12-2, E12-3, E12-4, E12-5

E8-12, E8-13, P8-17

Group Case: To be distributed at end of this session (Due date: April 14, 2017)

Smrity Randhawa

Measurement and Reporting Standard Costs and Capital Budgeting

Instructor:Smrity Randhawa

Date:Friday, April 14, 2017

Overview and Session Description

In the first half of the session we will examine how a flexible budget is developed and applied in performance evaluation. This will include calculating and analyzing revenue and spending variances.

In the second half of the session we will discuss capital budgeting. Capital Budgeting involves making decision about investing today in order to realize profits in the future. We discuss several different methods a manager might use in making the investment decisions

Topic Outline

Understand the meaning of “management by exception”
Evaluate the acceptability of investment project using various methods

Pre-work

Reading: Garrison/Noreen/Brewer: Chapters 9, 10 and 13

Suggested Homework Problems: E10-4, E10-5, E10-8, P10-10, P10-14

E13-1, E13-2, E13-3, E13-4, E13-5

Individual Case: To be distributed at end of this session(Due date: April 28, 2017)

Smrity Randhawa